By Louis Nixon

West Ham has held an interest in FC Utrecht’s Souffian El Karouani, who already sees the East London side as “a great club.”

The Hammer’s wingback shortage means it isn’t a shock to see individuals being linked to the club who play in those positions and it appears that we have targeted Souffian El Karouani to be the man that we want. 

Whilst some rumours may be thrown straight away out of consideration, sources have already spoken to the player about the move to West Ham to which he responded, “It’s a great club. My agent is working for me. I’ll wait and see.” 

It is important to note, that whilst the 25 year old is considered a good player to many and is entering his prime years, therefore could be a costly amount, it should be taken into consideration that he currently only has 6 months left on his contract and FC Utrecht are said to be ‘desperate’ to receive a transfer fee for the Morocon International. 

It is also worth noting that the wage bill shouldn’t be an issue, given that he’s estimated to earn around €5000 per week, so it doesn’t seem that personal terms will prove to be a stumbling block, meaning that if we were actually serious in signing him, I’d suspect these terms to be agreed fairly quickly and sooner rather than later which could help us secure the signing for an even cheaper fee. 

Souffian El Karouani is currently valued at £10 million, and this season in 16 matches has achieved 11 G/A! He is an absolute creative monster, remarkable numbers for a fullback and considering that he is also versatile, this could prove to be a significant buy.

He’s able to play out wide on the left, as well as the middle of the park if required, which demonstrates the fact that he does have confidence to move the ball up, which is exactly what is required within Nuno’s side. 

Overall, given that it would be for a cheap price, this could be an extremely good cherry pick from the Hammers, and his seemingly eager desire to join the club is a welcoming factor to admire, something of which many could take lessons in.